Benchrest vs boat.

[Timon]

I had boats for 20 some years in the upper Chesapeake Bay Area. The last one, which I had the longest was a30 foot Sea Ray Sundancer. It was a great boat, however it seemed that almost every time we went out something broke. These endless broken things just wore me out cost wise. It was several hundred dollars to haul it out if it needed that. Thousands to keep it in its slip during the season. A 150 gallon tank and it was a thirsty critter. Then thousands for winter storage, thousands for winter prep, a thousand or so for shrink wrap, once a blown engine 11K for that. I finally sold her.

That being said, my three kids grew up spending weekends on the boat. I would not trade all that time with them for any amount of money.

 

[hogpatrol]

Never owned a boat but after burning money (avgas) for twenty years, guns, shooting and Africa safaris are a lot cheaper. Pilot members may know this strip, Deck's 9D4, Myerstown, PA, good for hundred dollar hamburgers.

 

[gkgeiger]

In the late 80’s, we owned a 36’ fly bridge sedan sport fish with twin big block gas engines. We boated out of Marblehead Ohio. We took a trip to the North Channel through Lake St Clair and Lake Huron. Fuel was much cheaper but we still spent about $2500 for the trip. One other story about fuel cost, I invited a few of my employees to go Walleye fishing. They said great, we’ll buy the gas, my boat had two 160 gal. tanks. You should have seen their faces as the dollar amount kept rolling on the pump. I didn’t take their money.

 

[ronsatspokane]

Had a 34 Tolly sedan flybridge for years. Moored it on Lake Union in Seattle. Lived on it part time when I was working over there. Running to the San Jaun Islands would end up being $1000 bucks in gas every time and we did it quite a bit. That was nearly 10 years ago. Between the cost of operation, the cost of the boat itself and moorage we spent a small fortune. Sold it and never looked back but I would not trade the memories of the places we visited and time with family and friends for any amount of money.



P.S. Ask our administrator why we call the Straights of Jaun de Fuca the Straits of Praveen de Puka.

Now I've got a little 18 foot sled with a 60 hp tiller motor that I tow around for fishing. It sips gas, costs nothing to maintain or store and has been a lot of fun fishing on the Snake River, the Columbia and various lakes in the area. Would love to have a 22 or a 24 foot sled with a 250 hp tiller motor like the guides run but it's not worth the money to me. Could build a lot of expensive rifles for the price of one of those.

 

[Steve Donlon]

They are, my father didn't make a lot of money but he always had us out hunting, fishing, abalone diving and spear fishing along with other things on the coast such as clamming. And he would always take any kid on the block that want to go, a lot of my friends dads didn't hunt or fish and some were never around so my dad would just tell them to bring a change of dry clothes and off we went, stop and get a bucket of KFC or he would take a camp stove and cook. My friends ate better out with us fishing than they did at home.

You're absolutely right I feel sorry for kids today. I try and make it a point that any kid that shows interest in my hunting or fishing, to take him along with me . I tell them as long as they are trying there best in school and are respectful and stay out of trouble I'll take them but they have to keep up their end of the bargain.

I spent a few years diving San Clemente Island and Cortez Banks for abalone and black coral. As soon as we had 100 dz. abalone, we would radio San Diego and our abalone buyer would come out with their boat and buy our abalone on the spot with cash and bring us fuel, water, food and what ever else we needed to stay out at the island and dive. So every 3 days they would come out. There were some old navy udt frogmen Korean war vets that where also out diving for abalone. So we became good friends because they only dove deep and sometimes it took longer to get 100 dz. abalone for them. So by us getting 100 dz. every few days, they could use our pick-up boat for selling their abalone and get supplies too. They showed us where there was Black Coral growing off the south end of San Clemente Island at about 175" deep. The tops of the rock pinnacles were at about 90' and went down to 210'. With giant Black Coral bushes growing out the sides. Bigger than anyone even knew existed. We never dove deep so they showed us how to do it. We bought analong decompression meters and went for it. At that depth, we only had about 12 or 15 minutes bottom time. So we could only get 2or 3 bushes for that one dive for the day. So we did it on our last diving day at the island. We could sell one bush, as a specimen for big bucks to asians. We did good for awhile. Then I got married and figured I needed a different job. The Government found out that there was Black Coral out there in 2005 and how unique and big they are, then they outlawed harvesting them and made them a protected species. No one even knew they existed. There are a few things out there in those waters and Cortez Banks that no ones knows exist. Giant species of known life forms that no-one knows get that big and I"m glad they don't know. The Channel Islands are a very unique place where no-one dives deep to see what is there. We dove with hookah rigs and air hoses, and compressor.

 

[Rwfish]

But………a guy that live down the street from me just bought a new Bay Boat, two 300 HP Yamaha 4-stroke outboards. That’s $60,000 worth of motors right there. He also bought a one ton fifth wheel to haul it on the 6 wheel trailer. I figure he has $180,000 in the whole package.

Ammo cost won’t even come close to the fuel costs for that thing!

 

[Hipshoot]

If you really want to talk about throwing your money away---spend it on your wedding!

 

[Shooter13]

Both are losses, but what would you rather do? Beat up on your buddies and have braggin' rights or be on a lake full of drunks dodging them trying to keep your family alive?

 

[CJ6]

I enjoy both, but nothing really compares to hitting the lake at first light and just taking all the peace and quite in. Listening to the Loons and watching the Eagles flying.
We've never had all the Hi-tech gear so many use today and never needed it even though the lake is decent sized (approximately 10x12 miles).

 

[dryhumor]

The best thing when it comes to boats...is having a buddy that owns one.

Second best is renting one… I’ve caught a lot of fish off of rented boats.

 

[muleystalker]

I spent a few years diving San Clemente Island and Cortez Banks for abalone and black coral. As soon as we had 100 dz. abalone, we would radio San Diego and our abalone buyer would come out with their boat and buy our abalone on the spot with cash and bring us fuel, water, food and what ever else we needed to stay out at the island and dive. So every 3 days they would come out. There were some old navy udt frogmen Korean war vets that where also out diving for abalone. So we became good friends because they only dove deep and sometimes it took longer to get 100 dz. abalone for them. So by us getting 100 dz. every few days, they could use our pick-up boat for selling their abalone and get supplies too. They showed us where there was Black Coral growing off the south end of San Clemente Island at about 175" deep. The tops of the rock pinnacles were at about 90' and went down to 210'. With giant Black Coral bushes growing out the sides. Bigger than anyone even knew existed. We never dove deep so they showed us how to do it. We bought analong decompression meters and went for it. At that depth, we only had about 12 or 15 minutes bottom time. So we could only get 2or 3 bushes for that one dive for the day. So we did it on our last diving day at the island. We could sell one bush, as a specimen for big bucks to asians. We did good for awhile. Then I got married and figured I needed a different job. The Government found out that there was Black Coral out there in 2005 and how unique and big they are, then they outlawed harvesting them and made them a protected species. No one even knew they existed. There are a few things out there in those waters and Cortez Banks that no ones knows exist. Giant species of known life forms that no-one knows get that big and I"m glad they don't know. The Channel Islands are a very unique place where no-one dives deep to see what is there. We dove with hookah rigs and air hoses, and compressor.

Nice. Years ago I used to archery hunt Santa Cruz and Catalina islands for hogs, sheep and goats. I free dove Santa Cruz Island while hunting , no mask or wet suit , and used to get abs there. In later years I dove with tanks at all those islands spear fishing and lobstering.

I live in Northern Ca. so all my ab diving up here was free diving. I sure wish they would open it back up. One thing for sure the California coast, especially the northern coast doesn't get the credit it deserves for all the abundance of life out there. I have dove quite a few places and the Ca. coast is the most beautiful I have seen, Hawaii and other tropics look like a desert compared to here, nothing like a big kelp forest.